The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released core guidance documentation for the Trusted Internet Connections (TIC) program developed to assist agencies in protecting modern information technology architectures and services. CISA announced the release July 31.
CISA released final versions of three of the TIC 3.0 core guidance documents, representing the conclusion of their adjudication period following the issuance of draft documents in December 2019. The Program Guidebook, Reference Architecture, and Security Capabilities Catalog (formerly known as the Security Capabilities Handbook) are amended and improved thanks to the hundreds of recommendations, comments, and questions CISA received during the 50-day request for comments period in early 2020.
The final versions of these documents can be found at:
www.cisa.gov/publication/tic-30-core-guidance-documents.
CISA requested comments on release of the draft core guidance documents on Dec. 20, 2020, lasting from January through February 2020. Nearly 500 comments and questions were collected. Additionally, awareness of the newly-released guidance was generated through engagement in agency roadshows, all-agency webinars, and large industry events, reaching more than 1,000 government and industry professionals and representing about 70 federal agencies and several vendors.
After comments period ended, CISA worked diligently to analyze the collected feedback, comments, and questions to incorporate into the TIC 3.0 core guidance. After several working session with partners at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the General Services Administration (GSA), CISA addressed major comments related to the central strategy and concepts of the modernized guidance.
A summary of the comments and CISA’s response is available in the Response to Comments on Draft TIC 3.0 Guidance Documentation.
CISA continues to work with agencies to support TIC pilots and guiding industry in developing TIC overlays. With the added lessons-learned, CISA expects to release the final versions of the Use Case Handbook, Overlay Handbook (formerly known as the Service Provider Overlay Handbook), Traditional TIC Use Case, and Branch Office Use Case later this summer.
The TIC program office can be reached at tic@cisa.dhs.gov.